Chapter 37: The Cunning Plan of Cao Anmin (Part 1)

  Yangyi County Hall

  Cao Xin, clad in a suit of armor stained with blood and dust, sat wearily on the main seat, gazing at Liu Yue, Dian Wei, and Zhou Cang beside him. Cao Xin's tired eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of distress, yet he still dared not relax, and instead asked Liu Yue calmly.

  "Zi Xiang, how many casualties have we suffered?"

  At this point, the person in front of him bowed and Liu Xuan hastily said: "General, our army has been marching day and night for several days. Although we have repeatedly attacked Rencheng and Yangyixian, our army has already suffered more than half casualties. The two thousand soldiers who followed you to break through Chenliu now only have a thousand people left..."

  It is clear that Liu Yi still cannot treat Cao Xin as a general like others, after all, Liu Yi was a Han official, he knew that Cao Xin was the Colonel of Agriculture, which was not enough to be called a general, so he always addressed him as "Sir".

  However, Cao Xin didn't pay much attention to this and only slightly furrowed his brow. He thought of the soldiers who had followed him into battle over the past few days and couldn't help but sigh: "We've lost over a thousand brothers..."

  Cao Xin looked at the three people in front of him, his expression gloomy, and said: "Brothers, I ask you, do you think I, Cao Xin, can turn the tide for our lord?"

  "Big brother, where did you learn this? If it weren't for you always taking the lead and charging forward first, we wouldn't be working so hard either."

  "Indeed, General. Although I, Dian Wei, do not submit to you, in these days, you have attacked Chenliu, defeated Rencheng and taken Yangyi, killing countless enemies. We are all fighting for the first time, but everyone admires your bravery and tactics! Each of us wants to die for you."

  Cao Xin still lowered his head and remained silent, Liu Yue said: "Sir, are you afraid of being alone and powerless?"

  As soon as the words were spoken, Cao Xing immediately raised his head, but also couldn't hide the bitterness on his face. "Killing and killing, Lü Bu still has 20,000 troops, while our men are left with only 1,000 people... It's already impossible to defeat Lü Bu, after this battle, Lü Bu will definitely concentrate his forces, besides... my father Cao De was also captured by Xun Yu..."

  When they heard this, everyone was shocked. They all knew that Cao Xin was Cao Cao's nephew, and Xun Yu had detained Cao Cao's own brother. Unless someone had committed an unforgivable crime, the so-called "great crime" was probably referring to Cao Xin.

  This time, Cao Xin took some risks, but everyone knew that Cao Xin was doing all this for Cao Cao's great cause. These days of fighting in various places were not just Liu Yi, Dian Wei and Zhou Yu also knew why Cao Xin did this.

  "You've suffered, sir!"

  He slightly waved his hand, and a hint of mature calmness flashed across Cao Xin's eighteen-year-old face, restoring a bit of spirit. "Forget it," he said. "We have no way out now. At this moment, the capital is in great chaos, and it's inevitable that the lord will suspect us. But we must understand that this is a critical moment for the lord's survival. As for us, the lord will eventually come to realize..."

  Everyone nodded silently after hearing this, apparently they thought Cao Xin's concern was not unreasonable.

  But for Cao Xin at this moment, the only way to keep his father alive is to prove his innocence to Cao Cao.

  "Zhou Jiao, bring it up." Coldly saying that, Cao Xin wiped away the fatigue on his face again and spoke seriously.

  "Yes." After a slight hesitation, Zhou Yu obeyed and left.

  But in an instant, a sturdy warrior bound by ropes was suddenly pulled up like a small chicken by Zhou Yu.

  "Let go! Let me go!"

  Seeing the martial general struggling and shouting loudly, Cao Xin smiled coldly, with a hint of chilliness on his face, looking at him and saying: "You... what is your surname and name?"

  "I, I am Wei Xun." Under the angry gaze of Dianwei and Zhou Cang, that general suddenly became spirited, but looked at Cao Xin and stuttered.

  "Wei Xu? Oh...... you're Wei Xu?"

  "What's it to you?"

  "Kill you!" Before Cao Xin could speak, Zhou Jue beside him was already furious, his eyes wide with anger, and said viciously.

  Upon hearing this, Wei Xun's body involuntarily shrank back, and a bead of sweat slowly rolled down his face.

  "Shut up!" Cao Xin shouted, and saw all the changes in Wei Xu at this moment. However, he burst out laughing and suddenly changed his tone to a gentle one: "General Wei, don't be offended, don't be offended." Saying so, Cao Xin pretended to be humble, stood up from his seat, walked over to Wei Xu's side, and loudly asked Zhou Yu: "Zhou Yu, how many prisoners did our army capture this time?"

  "Back to Big Brother! From Ren City to now, a total of 3,000 people have been captured."

  He let out an "oh" and pretended to have suddenly realized something, but in reality, Cao Xin was brushing off the dust from Wei Xiu's shoulder while secretly coming up with a plan.

  However, on the surface, he still wore a hint of an apologetic smile and said: "Hehehe, General Wei is truly sorry, I'm afraid my poor management has caused you some inconvenience, I hope you won't mind, hehehe."

  Cao Xin's tone softened, and Wei Xun, who was used to being high and mighty, suddenly came up with a burst of energy, his nose pointing upwards, coldly smiling: "Hmph... what? You took away someone else's city? Caught me? And you still want to apologize? Are you afraid of my family's General Lü's army coming to punish you? Hmm?"

  "You scoundrel!" With one swift motion, Zhou Yu grasped Wei Xu's collar and burst into a rage.

  "Get out!" Cao Xin suddenly pushed the former away, looking at Wei Xiu's face which had turned somewhat pale, and smiled again: "General, there is no need to be frightened. I won't kill you, nor will I interrogate you."

  Hearing this, Wei Xiu said in surprise: "You... what do you mean by this?"

  Cao Xin smiled again, and patted the dirt off Wei Xu's body. However, he didn't immediately untie him. Instead, while patting, he seemed to say unintentionally: "I'm going to return your troops and horses, and send you back to General Lü."

  "Really?" As soon as he heard this, Wei Xun's mind went blank, but he dared not believe it and said: "You want to let me go back?"

  Upon hearing this, Cao Xin suddenly raised his voice, disregarding the puzzled gazes of the three people behind him. He loudly feigned a pitiful tone, "General Wei! I, Cao Xin, am truly incompetent! Look at the soldiers in my hands - they're all 17 or 18-year-old new recruits! If it weren't for the help of the civilians within the city, how could I have breached General's stronghold?!" As he spoke, Cao Xin suddenly beamed with a smile on his face, but his voice remained loud. "Don't worry, General - soon I'll release you and send you back with the 3,000 captives! Hehe, I know it well - General Lü Bu is mighty, and ten Cao Xins wouldn't be a match for one Lü Bu..."

  In the end, a strange glow flashed in Cao Xin's eyes, but his face immediately swept over with a chill, and his voice suddenly became softer as he continued: "How dare I... compete with General Lü..."

  At this time, Wei Xu was completely attracted by Cao Xin's words and did not notice the strangeness on his face. He nodded repeatedly and said with joy: "Good good good! It's settled."

  "Hehehe." A warm smile, Cao Xin waved his hand at Zhou Yu and said:

  "Take him away and take good care of General Wei."

  *

  P.S: Collecting.

  ;